HUPAC Update July 2018 – pre-election lay of the land

The House – what’s at stake: All 435 Seats are up for election. Currently, Republicans have 235 seats, and Democrats have 193, with 7 seats vacant. Democrats need a net gain of 23 Seats to win the majority for the first time since 2010. At least 59 districts — 39 held by Republicans, 20 held by Democrats — will not feature an incumbent running for reelection. Since the Civil War, the president’s party has lost ground in 36 of 39 midterms, with an average loss of 33 seats. In the shorter timeframe of the post-World War II era, the president’s party has lost an average of 26 seats per midterm.

On the Senate side, Republicans are the clear favorite to remain in the majority. The main reason is the Senate map is awful for Democrats as they are defending so many seats in red states. 10 of the 26 seats Democrats are defending are in states President Trump won in 2016. The clearest path for Democrats to flip the Senate would be holding all of their Senate seats and flipping two toss-up states out west in Nevada and Arizona.

It really all comes down to how big and if there is any Democratic wave this cycle. Twenty-five Districts that Clinton won that are currently represented by Republicans. In 12 of the 25 Obama also won the presidential vote. The margins are anywhere from less than a point to over 20 points.

Twelve members of Congress HUPAC supports are on this list including, Jeff Denham, Steve Knight, Mimi Walters in California, Mike Coffman in Colorado, Carlos Curbelo in Florida, Peter Roskam in Illinois, Erik Paulsen in Minnesota, Leonard Lance in New Jersey, Brian Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania, and Will Hurd and Pete Sessions in Texas, and Barbara Comstock in Virginia.

How does HUPAC influence the elections – and where do we stand on issues? If you’re interested in more in-depth information on HUPAC and it’s role in the system, go to NAHU.org and login to your account. Go to Advocacy, and then HUPAC. There is a wealth of information available, including position papers and voting history.

For the State of Indiana, your representative is David Berman. He can answer any of your PAC-related questions. NAHU’s HUPAC Board of Trustees is as follows: